“NCAA Tournament.”
They are words Oregon women’s basketball head coach Kelly Graves writes on the board before every game. With two weeks left in the season, Oregon has a chance to return to the tournament for the first time in more than 10 years.
“We know what we’ve been playing for and here with a couple of weekends to go we’ve put ourselves in a position where that can become a reality,” Graves said. “But we understand we still gotta win games, so we’re nowhere near there yet.”
For senior Jillian Alleyne, reaching the NCAA Tournament this year would be the ideal way to cap her college career.
“I just think the ultimate seal would be the NCAA Tournament,” Alleyne said. “Going on Selection Sunday, sitting there and hearing your team called, and just going to play that first game.”
Coming off a weekend split in which the Ducks lost 77-72 to No. 14 UCLA on Friday, but beat USC 69-60 on Sunday, Oregon remains in contention for an at-large bid, which hasn’t happened since 2005. Sunday’s win versus USC gave the Ducks their 20th win of the season, the first time they’ve reached 20 wins since since 2005.
Currently, Oregon is listed third in ESPN’s Bracketology Next Four Out, meaning they are right on the cusp of making the tournament.
Oregon’s résumé could change dramatically in the coming weeks. It closes out the regular season with road games against Cal and No. 11 Stanford. The Ducks also have the Pac-12 Tournament — where a win against one of the four ranked teams in the Pac-12 could potentially propel Oregon into the tournament.
Oregon has quality wins against Washington, Utah and USC. Its win at then-No. 22 North Carolina at the beginning of the year at first seemed to add to their résumé, but North Carolina has underachieved mightily this season.
Oregon’s RPI on Monday received a modest boost from No. 65 to No. 60 after Sunday’s win. RPI takes into consideration wins, losses and strength of schedule — all things that the selection committee considers when selecting at-large bids. Oregon’s schedule is ranked as the 115th toughest in the country and is arguably the factor that could keep the Ducks out of the tournament.
One thing the selection committee may consider is how Oregon bounced back after starting Pac-12 play 0-5. Since then the Ducks have gone 9-2, with their only losses to No. 14 UCLA and No. 9 Arizona State.
Oregon is still a bit of a long shot for the tournament. It lacks a signature win and its preseason schedule was not exactly difficult. But the Ducks have embraced being overlooked all year.
Before the start of the season, Oregon was picked to finish eighth in the Pac-12 by the coaches and media. It currently sits tied with Washington for fifth.
“We’ve been trying to keep the mentality that we have nothing to lose,” guard Lexi Petersen said. “No one expected us to be in this position at the beginning of the year, so I think we’re just trying to keep that mentality that we are the underdog and we’re playing with nothing to lose.
“This was definitely a goal, it was definitely brought up a lot in the preseason but the fact that we are actually doing it is kind of unreal.”